Do you have kids who consider school to be a form of torture?
You always wanted to be a fly on the wall of my homeschool, right? Well, here’s your chance! I want to encourage all you homeschool moms who are educating little boys and little girls who despise school. These are kids who’d rather go to the dentist to have their teeth scraped and picked than to sit and do a page of math problems.
To make matters worse, they are experts at drawing out the most simple tasks into remarkably long and boring torture sessions…and they have no clue that their own attitudes are more than half the problem!
Your job, as the mom and the teacher, is multi-faceted. You have to educate them. You have to train them. And you have to do it while demonstrating joy, patience, and gentleness – i.e. the Gospel.
Sobering thought, that.
I thought it might help for you to see a video of my 8-year-old during a bad day. He spends about 6 painful minutes doing a single problem. Actually, he spends about 5 minutes complaining about the problem and only about a minute doing the actual problem…but in his mind it was only the math problem that was the problem. He was unable to see his own waste of time and bad attitude. By the end of the video, you might wish you could shake him…I know I was tempted!
But, the next time you are facing a similar situation, remember that the Holy Spirit is strong within you and will give you all you need to deal with this situation victoriously. Shower your little reluctant student with lots of love and smiles. Remember, a cheerful heart is GOOD medicine (Proverbs 17:21). Praise God that YOU are the one that has the privilege of helping your little treasure and pointing him to God – and that you HAVENT turned that privilege over to someone else. God has equipped YOU to parent and train your child. YOU CAN DO THIS!
Lastly, this video only shows you a rough 6 minutes – that had been preceded by about 40 additional rough minutes plus 2 days of additional trauma and tears. It doesn’t demonstrate his short break afterward, how I addressed his sin, and how he came back refreshed and motivated to finish the remaining 6 problems in less than 10 minutes. My main purpose in posting the video is to encourage you. (By the way, Caleb enjoys his stardom and was totally okay with me posting this.)
You’re not alone. Your circumstance isn’t unique. You’re in a privileged place to help your child change and grow to be more like his Lord – something he’ll never get in a public school. You’re doing a good thing!…no, a great and courageous life-changing thing, Mom! Don’t give up! God bless you!